Introduction:

An information society is a society where the creation,distribution, use, integration and manipulation of information is asignificant economic, political, and cultural activity. The aim of theinformation society is to gain competitive advantage internationally,through using information technology (IT) in a creative andproductive way. The knowledge economy is its economiccounterpart, whereby wealth is created through the economicexploitation of understanding. People who have the means topartake in this form of society are sometimes called digital citizens.This is one of many dozen labels that have been identified tosuggest that humans are entering a new phase of society.

The markers of this rapid change may be technological,economic, occupational, spatial, cultural, or some combination ofall of these. Information society is seen as the successorto industrial society. Closely related concepts are the post-industrialsociety (Daniel Bell),post-fordism post-modern society, knowledgesociety, telematic society, Information Revolution, liquid modernity,and network society (Manuel Castells).

Definition

There are many definitions of the IS,

some of them are:

a society in which the creation, distribution,

diffusion, use and manipulation of information is a significant economic, political and cultural activity

Societies that have become dependent upon complex electronic information networks and which allocate a major portion of their resources to information and communication activities” (Melody, 1990: 26-7)

Information Society means social and economic structure, where productive usage of a resource such as information, as well as knowledge-intensive production performs a prominent role…and where individuals, such as consumers, workers, use information extensively (OECD, 1994)

Information society

Closely related concepts...

Post-industrial society

Post-fordism

Post-modern society

Knowledge society

Network society

Theoretical Foundations:

Genealogy of the information society concept is usuallytraced to a term “post-industrial society- a term first usedby sociologist Daniel Bell (1973). Refer to Frank Webster,Chapter 3 on elaboration of the post-industrial society.

Another source of the information society concept isattributed to debates on the “information economy”developed by American economists Fritz Machlup (1962)and Marc Porat (1977).

The terms “information economy”, “information society”,“new economy” and “Networked economy”- all build onsome of Bell´s ideas on the post-industrial society.

Characteristics of the post-industrial society:

• Rise of the service sector

• Decline of agricultural-based economy

• Predominance of “information-based” work

• Knowledge now key factor in the economy, outstrippingphysical plant / manufacturing

Bell on Information Society...

• In the pre-industrial society life is a game against naturewhere one works with raw muscle power (Bell 1973 126);

In the industrial era where machines predominates in a technicaland rationalized existence, life is a game against fabricatednature (126). In contrast to both, life in the post-industrialsociety based on services, is a game between persons (127)what counts is not raw muscle power or energy butinformation (127)

Webster´s Five Types of Theories

Most of the work in information society is futuristic and technologically deterministic and informed by few theoretical insights.

However, Frank Webster (2000) has build a useful typology to understand IS theories:

Technological

Economic

Occupational

Spatial

Cultural

Technological vision of the IS:

• Puts emphasis on ICTs and their transformative powers.

• Technological innovation: new possibilities in transmission and storage of information.

• Society has moved from the “Industrial Revolution” and now entered an “Information Age”. “Computer technology is to the information age what mechanisation was to the industrial revolution” (John Naisbitt quoted in Frank Webster).

Economic vision of the IS:

• Concerned with “economics of information” (Fritz Machlup). Assesses the size and growth of the information industries.

• Puts emphasis on the importance of knowledge to the economy.

• Technological innovation central for increasing productivity and thus for growth of economics and competition between economies (inspired by Joseph Schumpeter´s thinking).

Occupational vision of the IS:

• Focuses on occupational change- argues that the predominance

of occupation is found in information work: “service workers”

now in the majority

• Emergence of “white collar” society and decline of “blue

collar” workers (influenced by Daniel Bell)

• Many OECD and EU documents on the IS focus on this aspect

of the IS.

Spatial vision of the IS:

• Puts emphasis on the information networks which connectlocations and have great impact on the organisation of time andspace.

• Information Networks are linking together locations within andbetween offices, towns, regions, nations, continents and theentire world, seen in increase in transborder data, telecomfacilities, ISDN, movements of money across nations, internet(Castells, 1996)

• Concepts of “information superhighway” and “wired society” are found in these arguments.

Cultural vision of the IS:

• Contemporary culture is manifestly more heavily informationladen than any of its predecessors- we are existing in a mediasaturated environment.

• Growth of institutions dedicated to investing everyday life withsymbolic significance - e.g. global advertising, publishingempires, film industry, fashion industry etc

• Interactivity of new technologies provides many channels toconsume cultural products, thus increasing our dependence oninformation for everyday interaction.

Conclusion

The concept of “Information Society” is losing

relevance. It is being replaced with “Knowledge

Society”.

Will “Knowledge Society” be technocratic or

humanistic?

The future is not so much predicted today, but it is more

projected (designed) and practically implemented.

Conclusion:

The Information Society holds the potential to democratizecommunication, provide greater access to health care andeducation, create jobs and promote economic development,increase public input to political decisions and government action,and allow people to be creators of information rather than justconsumers. But ICT and the products and opportunities it hasspawned have been primarily developed and instituted in pursuit ofeconomic gains - not widely shared social benefits - and thechanges they have wrought have bestowed disproportionatebenefits to the more affluent members of our society. Moreover, itis important to keep in mind that technological development is notan autonomous or inevitable force in society. Copyright legislation,telecommunications regulation, labour law, international traderegulation - changes in these kinds of laws and regulations bothunderlie and give form to technological development.Consequently, as the forces associated with technological changecontinue to reconfigure Canadian society and reshape our lives, it isimportant that all Canadians participate in the debates and decisionsthat guide this process.

bibliography http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Information-

Society

source: http://www.martinhilbert.net/WorldInfoCapacity.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_society

Belkin, N. J. Towards definition of information for informatics. (in Horsnell, v., ed. Informatics 2. London; Aslib, 1975

bibliography Fritz Machlup (1962) The Production and Distribution

of Knowledge in the United States. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

OECD (1986) Trends in The Information Economy. Paris: OECD.

Frank Webster (2002b) Theories of the Information Society. London: Routledge

Bell, Daniel. The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1974.

Castells, Manuel, The Theory of The Network Society, Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall, 2006